Review + Giveaway: Witch by T. O'Rourke

Twenty-year-old Sydney Hart has always made mistakes and when she meets Michael Grayson, she soon comes to wonder if she hasn’t made the biggest mistake of her life. That one moment of passion between them causes Sydney’s world to spiral rapidly out of control.

Suffering from nightmares, Sydney soon realises her life and the people closest to her aren’t who or what she believed them to be. Fearing she has been cursed, Sydney attempts to unravel the dark secrets that surround her, and is desperate to discover why a dying man called her ‘Witch’.

A racy, paranormal romance with a chilling twist.

Yet another hit from Tim O'Rourke! Woot! Woot!

WITCH is basically about an accident that happened in a country farmhouse years ago that resulted in the death of a young woman. After a routine check on a reported break-in Sydney Hart found herself drawn to Michael Grayson, the son of the farmhouse owner. After an afternoon rendezvous with Michael followed by a freak accident that killed a family, Sydney was put on leave. But her recuperation was far from restful. One of the victim whispered Witch to Sydney before he passed and since then she's been having surreal dreams and other paranormal experiences associated to the tragedy.

Something fell against my shoulder. Whatever it was, it was so cold that I could feel it through my police shirt, causing me to shiver. I glanced to discover the little boy standing behind me, his had gripping my shoulder. His skin was as white as a fish's belly.

WITCH by T. O'Rourke is a para-psychological thriller of sorts. All throughout the short novel O'Rourke pumped up the story with shuddersome scenes coupled with a solid musical score. And as I'm a lover of music and books, I find WITCH to be a cool combination of both loves. I can't help but shake and sway my booty to The Doors, The Police, Adele and Carly Rae Jepson in between paranormal hauntings.

WITCH has a Japanese horror film vibe going on for it in fact it reminded me so much of The Ring or Ringu with a girl haunting a well. I had my hair standing on end with spooky ghosts, nightmares and apparitions, the dream sequences in particular were major head trips. I'm a superstitious kind of person and I'm of those nutty people who believe in omens, dream prophesies and what not. And Sydney's were definitely a message from the other side.

No one is seriously going to believe that a dead girl came to me in my sleep.

Sydney Hart is an OK heroine for me. She didn't wow me the way Kiera Hudson or Samantha Carter did probably because the story wasn't centric to her, she served as the medium who helped put the ghost to rest by bringing justice to the deaths that happened years ago. I was also expecting guts and gore similar to Cowgirls & Vampires (now called Vampire Seeker) but it was more of a psych thriller. Now I'd like to highlight that Tim is getting his groove as far as writing those prickly love scenes are concerned. Compared to his first adult novel, WITCH felt more organic, passionate and very sensual. Sydney's carnal experiences had a lot of lust and love, very entertaining to say the least.

And it won't be an O'Rourke novel without a Twizzler-like mystery going on for it. Before going in to the story, I suggest that you just go with the flow and not play detective because Tim will just have you running around in circles and you'll be throwing your theories one after the other. Or maybe I'm just a bad investigator. Ha! Well what's important is I had fun reading WITCH, I'm just not sure what else is there to be told. From the ending it looks like the story is done. But then again, with Tim, you never know.

23 comments:

Close encounter... I genuinely believe that my house growing up had a ghost that messed with me. Turned my room lights on and off and the stereo would turn on in the middle of the night, ya know just enough to freak you out even as a teen. Thing was I never seen "it". My Nana tells me that she did when she lived in England with my Grandfather though.

Thanks for the giveaway! After your review I'm kinda left in wanting for this one. The Ringu thing has me super curious!

When I was a kid in Korea, we used to have to walk under this bridge to get home. I swear my friend and I saw something. It got super cold in August. Ice cold. Then this woman walked and she was crying then she disappeared and it got warm again. But we weren't scared, we were just really sad.

yes. i used to live in a haunted house. ive seen a little boy. and things around there would move around, he people walking, lights would turn on and off, doors open and close (even when locked). It once knocked our dog off the bed and across the room. Things tapping on the wall next to my bed while trying to sleep. Something sitting next to me in bed. My bed even shook on occasion.

I thought I had once, water kept appearing in my floor, I'd wipe it up, and it wouldn't be fifteen minutes and it would be right back. This went on for hours one night while my husband was at work. Turns out it was seeping in under the floor, an issue with a clogged pipe. I still don't understand how it happened, but my husband sure thought my reaction was funny.